Kherson State Marine Academy at first establishment in maritime education on Ukraine
  

Operation of ship power plants

      Engineering is one of the main fields of seamen’s training. The permanent lack of highly qualified professionals at the world market shapes the essence and further development of this branch of study. The need and expedience of further training of seamen in this field is dictated by modern development demands not only of the Eastern Ukraine but also of some foreign countries. The present day system of marine education implemented by marine educational institutions is closely connected with sea and river fleet meeting its demands in training, certification and re-certification of marine transport professionals. The analysis of demand for the marine transport professionals shows that in order to provide the regular activities of fleet it is necessary to increase the enrollment to higher education marine institutions. Only the high level of training professionals and system approach to improvement of efficiency of teaching, provided by a higher educational establishment, are able to satisfy the wants of the marine fleet for qualified and certified professionals. So the need of training professionals in the said branch is becoming more and more urgent.
      The syllabus of higher education on the said branch of study is designed for two levels of training. There are two educational and qualification levels in the speciality Operation of Ship Power Plants: Bachelor and Specialist. The term to obtain a qualification of Bachelor on Operation of Ship Power Plants is 4 years in both day-time and correspondence departments. The qualification of specialist on Operation of Ship Power Plants can be obtained for 18 months in day-time and for 20 months in correspondence departments.
      The syllabus is agreed on its contents and levels:
  • Level 1 – training of Bachelors – 8 terms + practical training and state qualification exam;
  • Level 2 – additional course – 2 terms + qualification thesis.
      The first level is associated with a 4-year training of Bachelor in speciality 1003 Navigation and Ship Propulsion in direction 6.100300 Operation of ship power plants. The Bachelor can work on specialized ships of fishing and merchant fleet to maintain and secure smooth operation of ship propulsion plants. Being qualified at this level, the graduate can hold ranks of the Fourth, Third and Second Assistant Engineers and also the Chief Engineer with the corresponding sea-going experience. The received training enables the Bachelor to take part in design and development of separate units of different equipment of ship propulsion plants and implementing of the newest technologies in the system of ship propulsion plants automatization. The Bachelor’s duties cover a wide range of technical, practical and researching activities – from servicing the ship propulsion plants, making feasibility studies of simple projects to participating in scientific and economical researches, including marketing and management. The Bachelor is qualified as a low-level manager at researching and designing institutions, plants, marine fleet business. He can hold positions of assistant officer, senior assistant engineer, foreman and engineer in departments dealing with design, production and maintenance of ship propulsion plants. The positions to be held by the Bachelor are stated by Single State Classification of all professions under the international standards. The Bachelor should be supervised by the specialist, and later, after acquiring the necessary experience and practical skills, he can work independently.
The second level is associated with the training of Specialist in speciality 1003 Navigation and Ship Propulsion in direction 7.100302 Operation of Ship Power Plants. The period of training – 5,5 years. The syllabus of higher education in this direction covers three levels of training.
The Specialist is a direct organizer of work activity on servicing the ship propulsion plants: he provides servicing and maintenance under standard conditions of ship propulsion plants, control and regulating systems, auxiliary machinery, steering and deck machinery, refrigerating plants and technological equipment of ship plants. The Specialist is able to organize and conduct technical survey, preventive measures and repairs of ship mechanisms. The Specialist can hold positions at researching and designing institutions developing or implementing ship propulsion plants, as well as in marine educational institutions. The Specialist is trained for researching, engineering, organizing, and servicing in all fields which need highly effective producing and use of modern ship propulsion plants. The Specialist can hold the primary positions of researching engineer, engineer, and junior research assistant as stipulated by the ranks of nomenclature for the specialists with higher education. The graduates in this speciality can work as leading professionals at ships of sea and river fleet under flags of Ukraine and other countries; researching and engineering institutions; in higher marine educational establishments; at the shore-based units of sea and river fleet – ship-building and ship-repairing plants, bases of technical servicing of fleet. Knowledge and skills obtained by the graduates enable them not only to be employed in different fields, but also to hold top-managers’ positions. The high educational level makes it possible for the graduates to take part in different researching projects and be employed in companies related to research and production.
The theoretical knowledge of cadets is checked at the practical trainings which are not less than 8 months, which enables them to obtain a certificate of service of the third-rate engineer alongside with the diploma of specialist. With the said certificate, the graduate can hold the rank of engineer in any vessel. The growth of sea-going experience upgrades the rate of the sea diploma up to the first rate and gives the bearer the right to hold the rank of the Chief Engineer. Thus, the education in speciality 6.100300 Operation of Ship Propulsion Plants aims at training professionals able to solve practical and scientific tasks in marine branch and promoting the economical growth of Ukraine on the whole.